The present invention relates to mechanical toy figures and, more specifically, to mechanical toy figures having mechanisms for rotating body parts of the figure.
Mechanical figures having mechanisms for rotating different body parts of a figure are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,566 of Ong, U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,405 of Tepper and U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,518 of Kelley et al. each discloses a toy doll having a different gear train for rotating the arms about the torso of the doll. The mechanical doll disclosed in Kelley et al. further includes a motion-delay mechanism, which is an inertia-providing member attached to the gear train, that retards the rotation of the arms about the torso of the doll. Further, toy figures having gear trains for rotating both arms with respect to the upper torso when the upper torso is rotated about the lower torso are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,932 of Kelley et al.
Furthermore, toy figures having a mechanism for returning parts of the figure body to an initial position with respect to other parts of the figure body are known, such as the toy figure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,934 of Lewis et al. In Lewis et al., the upper torso of a toy figure is spring-biased to return to an initial position with respect to the lower torso and includes a locking mechanism that holds the upper torso at a displaced position. Furthermore, a mechanical figure having a gear train for rotating the head and one arm about the upper torso when the lower torso is pivoted about the upper torso is shown in Tepper. With the Tepper doll, a user twists the upper torso about the lower torso so that a first crown gear fixed to the lower torso rotates a spur gear connected with one arm to rotate the arm about the upper torso. The spur gear also drives a second crown gear attached to a neck shaft to rotate the head.
Although mechanical figures having various mechanisms for rotating one or more body parts about the remainder of the figure are known, such as those described above, the known toy figures are generally limited to is moving only one or two body parts and do not realistically simulate complex, coordinated human motion. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a toy figure that simultaneously rotates the head and both arms as the upper torso rotates about the lower torso, particularly one that rotates the various body parts at a controlled rate so as to simulate normal human motion rather than jerky, spasmodic movement. Further, it would be desirable to have a toy figure that can rotate the lower arm with respect to the upper arm, particularly when the upper arm rotates about the torso to provide an even more realistic motion.